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Leaders

Janet Christie-Seely, MD, MSc, FCFP

Janet Christie-Seely, MD, MSc, FCFP, Executive Director of the SLCOJanet Christie-Seely, MD, MSc, FCFP, is Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa.  She is an author and a painter and has lectured at and lead workshops in many parts of the world.  Janet was trained by Virginia Satir and, over time, the student-teacher relationship evolved into a shared passion for improving the human journey.  She brought Virginia Satir to Ottawa in 1986 and was instrumental in founding the Satir community in Ottawa, which is now officially known as the Satir Learning Centre of Ottawa.

Since 1981, Janet has made over 100 presentations outside of Ottawa in Canada, the U.S.A., the U.K., Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Korea.  The presentations have been primarily on the Satir Model of brief systemic therapy, family systems medicine, physician self-care, prevention and family, and coping with bereavement.  She has published fifteen articles, four book chapters and a monograph, along with two books.

Janet has been leading family reconstruction workshops since she founded the Satir community in Ottawa.

You may contact Janet by sending her a note.

Robin Beardsley, MD, CCFP

Robin Beardsley, MD, CCFP, is a family physician and therapist who has been using the Satir Model since 1989 in Ottawa.  She has done many intensive training programs with Dr. John Banmen and Maria Gomori, both of whom, along with Jane Gerber and Virginia Satir, are co-authors of the book The Satir Model.  She is a past chairperson of the Satir Business Group (the predecessor to the current Board) for the Satir Learning Centre of Ottawa.  Robin has participated and assisted in many Family Communication Workshops with Janet Christie-Seely over the years.  She has interned with John Banmen (Director of Training for the Satir Institute of the Pacific) in the training program for counselors teaching the Satir Model in Ottawa.

Tom Hutchinson, MD, BCh, FRCP(C)

Tom Hutchinson, MD, BCh, FRCP(C) first saw the possibilities of transformative therapy when he participated in a four-day session with Virginia Satir in 1986, which was organized by Dr. Janet Christie-Seely. He completed a four-year Couples' and Family Therapy Training Program at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal in 1995.

He is a palliative care physician in Montreal, working with the families of dying patients and teaching medical students about healing.  Previously, as a nephrologist, he applied his skills in family therapy with individuals and groups of patients with kidney failure.

Tom has participated and assisted in many Family Reconstruction Workshops with Janet Christie-Seely since 1993.  He has interned with John Banmen (Director of Training for the Satir Institute of the Pacific) in the training program for counselors teaching the Satir Model in Ottawa.

Murray Lennox, BASc, CAEH

Murray Lennox is a retired electrical engineer and a longtime member of the Ottawa Satir community. He is on the Senior Faculty of the Inner Focus School for Soul Directed Advanced Energy Healing and plays an active role in developing Inner Focus programs. He has taken the Satir Level I and II Training with John Banmen and has participated in and facilitated many Satir-based Family Reconstruction Workshops.

Shirley Lennox, RN, CAEH

Shirley Lennox, a retired registered nurse, is a member of the Virginia Satir Global Network and a longtime member of the Ottawa Satir community. She is on the Senior Faculty of the Inner Focus School for Soul Directed Advanced Energy Healing and has a private Energy Healing practice in Ottawa. She has taken the Satir Level I and II Training with John Banmen and has participated in and facilitated many Satir-based Family Reconstruction Workshops.

Sunder S. Arora, MD, FRCP(P)

Sunder S. Arora, MD, FRCP(P), is an adult and child psychiatrist, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, an Interfaith Minister, yoga teacher and a family man.  In his private practice in holistic psychiatry, he creatively combines the Satir Model with other modalities.  He recently produced the CD set Be Free Now, a synthesis of his clinical insights and spiritual journey.  He is very passionate about the Satir Model because of its potential to transform people, their lives, and the world.

Susan Ford, MSW, RSW

Susan Ford is a Satir Growth Model practitioner, having trained with Dr. John Banmen, Satir Institute of the Pacific, and Dr. Janet Christie-Seely, Director of the Satir Learning Centre of Ottawa.   She holds a Master's Degree in social work and is a Certified Trauma Specialist.  Through her private practice, Counselling for Change, she helps clients explore and change patterns of behaviour that interfere with their full enjoyment of life.  In the process, their self-esteem is raised, they make better choices, have fewer conflicts, and live with inner peace.  She is a dynamic adult educator with a solid reputation for helping clients move beyond survive to thrive.

Suzanne Grenier, BA, LLB

Suzanne Grenier, BA (Psychology and Sociology, Queen's University, Kingston), LLB (Civil Law, University of Ottawa), was a longtime member of the Ottawa Satir community.  Suzanne had taken the Satir Level I and II training courses with John Banmen and had coordinated and facilitated many of the Centre's Family Reconstruction workshops.

She had been the SLCO's first president and had been instrumental in developing the Centre's by-laws and guiding the Centre to its status as a not-for-profit organization.

In her career, Suzanne had been the federal government lawyer who advised on Land Claims for Aboriginal people and the transfer of Northern Indian Affairs to the Yukon.

Suzanne died in October 2007 of a cerebral aneurysm at the age of 53.  She is missed very much within our Ottawa Satir community.

Tom Wright

Tom Wright is a retired teacher and is the co-coordinator of the Satir Learning Centre of Ottawa.  He took a two-year training program in Transactional Analysis and four ten-day Satir training courses with Maria Gomori and John Banmen.  He is a member of the Virginia Satir Global Network.

Walter Zahnd, Professor Emeritus

Walter Zahnd, Professor Emeritus at California State University, Chico, a licensed clinical social worker and clinical member of AAMFT, is known for his work in Eastern and Central Europe. He is the trainer for the Slovakian Ministry of Social Affairs and founder of the Satir Institute of Slovakia and of the Czech Satir Institute. He was awarded the Living Treasure Award in 2007 by the Virginia Satir Global Network for his work in Europe. He began training therapists in the Satir Model in 1990 and has been invited to teach in Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Scotland, and Spain.

He has a long history of training with Virginia Satir and those others she trained, John Banmen, Maria Gamori, and Jane Gerber.